LCR SMD Fixture Modification

[mawyatt]

We've been using a couple SMD fixture adapters with our LCR meters to measure various SMD devices, and developed a DC Bias adapter to work with thes (and other LCR meter fixtures).

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/bias-network-for-lcr-meter/msg4170607/#msg4170607

The two SMD fixtures are different and one has a much steeper "V" groove and the probe tips are slightly higher in the V groove bottom which makes attaching small SMD devices much more difficult than the other fixture which has a shallow "V" groove and less space between the groove bottom and the probe tips. Because of this the one SMD fixture didn't get used often, and we decided to see if we could 3D print a "V" groove guide to replace the stock guide.

The 3D printed guide uses a shallower "V", which has the groove higher and closer to the probes, and is wider (10mm vs 8mm) to support longer SMD devices. This 3D printed quide works much better than the supplied stock guide, especially with small & thin 0603 devices, yet handles the larger SMD devices fine.

The 4th image 3180 is the other fixture which has a standard shallow "V" groove which was our "GoTo" SMD fixture before, but the 3D printed guide fixture is even easier to use!! 

Note: The zip file is the guide .stl file, rename with .stl

Best,

[jwet]

This is very good- I build little temporary fixtures for various tasks around my electronics and machine shop with my 3d printer.  A few of the things - 18650 battery holders for testing and charging raw cells, replacement plastic knobs and levers on test fixtures- old HP plastic gets brittle.  There is a photo below of a different type of SMT fixture that I fixed this way.  The colors and design are different because I did them at different times.  Good work.